& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

COLUMN HABIBULLAH N KARIM

Economic diplomacy par excellence: Inspiring instances for Bangladesh
Looking up from my plastic bucket chair at the departure lounge of the Incheon International Airport in South Korea, the geodesic design of the airport terminal finds a familiar chord with the designs of other recently built airport terminals in the region, namely, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
These airports stand out more for their similarities than any distinctive features (though there are a few to be fair). For a traveler like myself not literate in the languages of the region, when the signs are read in English, the lingua franca of the business world, everything appears exactly the same in these airports and you could easily forget where you are. I am not saying this to eulogize the architectural aesthetics or deplore the lack of it at these airports but simply to drive home the message that efficiency is usually colourless and truly efficient systems are indistinguishable from one another. How is this relevant for economic diplomacy, well, read on.
Economic interests have been the primary drivers of war and diplomacy since the post-medieval era throughout the world. In the modern world economic diplomacy is at the core of international relations between nations. However, centuries of rule by foreign conquistadores in our part of the world has blunted our capacity for setting foreign policy paradigms in light of our sustainable economic agenda, that is, in light of our trading and commercial interests. Immediately after our independence, won with our blood, sweat and countless tragedies, the country was faced with a war-ravaged economy and over half its population in utter poverty. In times like these, of course, the primary task of any government is to ensure survival of the people through food aid, technical assistance and aid in rebuilding efforts, all of which are outside the realm of normal trade and commerce. Hence our diplomatic corps were fully engaged in aid diplomacy in those days. However, in 37 years the country has moved up in economic notches sufficiently to be able to divert focus from aid to trade and that too with vigour in recent years.
Last week I went to Republic of Korea (South Korea) to attend an Asia-Pacific region skills development strategy conference organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) where I had the privilege of representing the Bangladesh Employers Federation (BEF). Due to flight schedule mismatch I had to go there a day early. Knowing this ahead of time I approached Ambassador Mustafa Kamal,
the erstwhile Ambassador of Bangladesh in South Korea and known to me since his posting as Cfrief of Chancery of the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC, for advice on how I should utilize the extra weekday while in South Korea.
Although Ambassador Kamal was no longer responsible for Korea (he is in fact Bangladesh's Ambassador in
Thailand now), what followed next was a flurry of professional e-mail correspondence between Ambassador Mustafa Kamal, Ambassador Shahidul Islam, the current Ambassador of Bangladesh in South Korea and myself, resulting in my extra day in Korea being chockfull of high-level meetings with Korean officials and executives as opposed to being a forced holiday. What
was highly remarkable was the speed and efficiency of Ambassador Islam and his staff in making this happen in less than two working days.
The earnestness and service attitude of the Embassy staff were very much like the kind of support foreign embassies in Dhaka (especially those from North America and West Europe) provide to their citi-zens when they come here for business. It made me feel proud indeed of my country and my government. Of course some countries go a step further and even do open advocacy to garner business in favour of companies from their countries. US government advocacy in favour of Boeing for aircraft deals is a case in point. Although our diplomats are still shy of such deal-making, they have come a long way since the days only a couple of decades ago when economic diplomacy was scoffed upon. This sure is a very healthy sign.
In recent times we have also seen the government appoint a professional trade negotiation expert, in the person of Dr. Debapriya Bhattachariya, as our Ambassador in Geneva. We have also seen how the diplomatic mission in the U.S. worked hand-in -hand with the ready-made-garments industry representatives to bolster our share of exports to that country. Our only wish is that this increasing trend of professional economic diplomacy continues unabated so that our diplomats find themselves on an equal footing with the diplomats from developed countries in terms of efficiency and economic goals for the country.
The writer is a software entrepreneur. hnkahm@gmail com